I understand that it might be a tad tricky to try separate the really good recipes from the really, really good ones here in Monkeyfood because I praise almost everything I ever make Still, I’m gonna praise these ones as well: these superduper nuts that would give even the almighty Super Goof unseen powers! …and while he’s not here, me.

Supernuts

• variety of nuts you prefer (macadamias, cashews, almonds, Brazil nuts, pecans, walnuts, pistachios… )
• organic coconut oil
• quality salt

Roast nuts on a hot, dry pan. You may want to chop some of the bigger nuts in smaller pieces such as the Brazil nuts. Let roast while constantly mixing them around to avoid burning and let them get a bit color. Add a generous amount of coconut oil on to the pan and let melt, let roast and mix into the nuts. Turn off the heat and add salt. Move into a jar or a dish and let cool… Dig in! Works as a snack, dessert or a cheer-you-up! Bloody desirable.

For all my Finnish readers, I HAVE TO put a word out about this wonderful organic product: Kotivaran Luomumeetvursti. It’s not only organic and unbelievable delicious, it also does not contain glucose or any other sh*t so commonly messing with cut meat. I won’t even mention E621, the most evil monosodium glutamate (MSG) that’s put into so many products it makes me sick. Literally.

But this beauty saves the day! Brilliantly fatty and tasty it’s a perfect snack with some veggies or a part of a good meal. Doesn’t get much better.

Well no, Artsy Stew ain’t some kitsch artist but rather a bit kitsch dish. I don’t even have a photo of it because a) I was too hungry and it was so good and b) because it ain’t that photogenic. Anyway, am gonna share with you, love your artsy stews, create your own!

[A day later: had to make it immediately again since it was sooo good!]

Artsy stew

• veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, turnip)
• spring onion
• salt, pepper, organic shoy soy sauce
• deli (smoked) turkey or meat
• coconut milk

Peel and roughly chop the veggies and spring onion and boil in a little water until tender but still al dente, not totally mushed. Pour away excess water and mush the veggies with a fork. Not into a puré but into something stewie. Season with salt, pepper and if you like, soy sauce. Chop some thinly sliced smoked turkey or ham and mix, transfer the stew onto your plate. Finish with a generous splash of coconut milk and enjoy immediately! Delish.

Just a quick word for inspiration! As everyone knows, organic eggs are a part of a paleo diet’s basics. They may be consumed in the form of omelettes, scrambled, poached, fried, Benedict, mushed… Or boiled. Here’s  my breakfast with couple of eggs and some nnnice olives, recommendable! I actually often prefer olives to olive oil, something to chew on

And now, after the basics of paleo below (see Omelette and Coconut Cream&Berries), something a little more advanced: paleo sushi (to be exact, sushi means vinegar rice so these really aren’t sushi, pardon my Japanese). Sashimi is already nicely paleo and the sushi rolls only need omitting of the rice, not too complicated. It’s possible to do these in the form of temakis (bigger rolls eaten with hands), makis or why not just throw everything on a plate and not roll at all. Rocks anyway.

The idea has long been maturing in my mind and this pushed me over the edge to actually prepare them. I experimented with two different meats (cold-smoke beef and suolaliha, salty meat?!) and cold-smoked salmon, the last one being absolutely the best. Other one of my favourite was the one where I substituted the rice with grated carrot; very, very moist and tasty! These would probably work also brilliantly with whitefish that is thinly sliced and salted (graavisiika) and with some smoked ham. And of course the Japanese thin omelette, Tamago.

Riceless maki rolls

• nori sheets
• thinly sliced meat/fish/Japanese omelette
• veggies: carrots, cucumber, spring onion
• avocado

Prepare the veggies by cutting the into long matchstick size sticks, also the avocado. Take out the nori sheet and place it on a sushi mat. Cover it evenly with the meat/fish/omelette leaving a little space on the other end of the sheet. Place the desired veggies in a row quite near the low end as shown in the picture and roll, roll, roll! If you want to, you may used a little wasabi inside the rolls as well, rubbing it into the meat (thin “stripe” under the veggies). Use a little water to slightly moisturize the end of the sheet to make it keep together. Cut into bite size portions with a sharp knife.

OR proceed as above, but instead of covering the sheet with the meat, cover it with grated carrot (or maybe cucumber, courgette or whatnot) and place the meat similarly to the veggies in the previous one.

Serve with organic Shoyu soy sauce, wasabi and nori, sushi ginger.

So next time I wanna put a maki feast together, I’m gonna opt for:

• cold smoked salmon
• graavisiika (the salted whitefish)
• grated carrot and some tasty meat
• …and may even be rolling a chorizo in a sheet? Why not bacon

I’ve never really liked omelettes that much, even tho they are very popular among people eating paleo or low-carb. I’ve always found them too dry and sort of repulsive. Until I travelled to Krabi a few weeks ago and ate an omelette every second morning! These ones were moist, soft and buttery-tasting, absolutely delicious. I spent several mornings watching the staff preparing my omelette and tried to absorb the correct method. But, as you can tell from the picture below, I’ve not yet mastered the demanding skill of preparing an omelette.

Anyway, this tastes brilliant! And feel free to perfect your own omelettes quite as well as you can

Omelette

• 2 organic eggs
• 2 tbsp water
• salt, pepper, herbs
• optional: veggies/ham/mushroom
• coconut oil/butter for frying

Mix the two eggs in a cup, add water and season. Chop veggies or other additions. Heat some coconut oil or butter on a pan and let the veggies/ham/etc. soften for a while. Pour in the egg mass and prepare either scrambled eggs (as presented on the picture) or a proper omelette. Serve with a generous amount of raw and steamed veggies.

I used bell pepper and spring onion in my eggs this time, served with veggies and steamed broccoli and young okra. Works! Now off to the pool to utilize some of the paleo brekkie energy, see ya!

This is one of the super easy paleo snacks/breakfasts/desserts that has had plenty of media time in numerous Finnish “health” blogs. So if there anybody who still hasn’t found it, recommending to try and variate it according to your taste. Also easy to take on road since coconut milk/coconut cream keeps well in room temperature when not opened. And if you are using any nutritional supplementation in the form of powder, many of them go easily along with this one, as well as added fibre.

Paleo “yoghurt”

• coconut milk or coconut cream (the latter has a thicker consistency, nnnice!)
• berries
• seeds/nuts/super foods

Mix together, that’s it.

To get you in the thai mood to accompany my trip I’ll guide you to making this fabulously easy (do I sound like Nigella or what??!) thai influenced oven dish. It tastes like tom kha or tom kha gai and you can utilize chicken, fish or meat as the protein. I’ve made it with some nice Alaskan pollock (seiti) and also with chicken. Ideal for mushrooms as well. Or other seafood than fish!

[Thai eggplant.]

Tom Kha a la Cave

• coconut milk or cream
• fish sauce
• lemon grass
• ginger/galangal
• kaffir lime leaves (bought frozen from an Asian store)
• lemon juice
• onion, mushroom, eggplant or thai eggplant, cabbage or thai cabbage of some sort, long beans, carrots, tomatoes… You choose
• fresh chili

Chop the veggies into an oven casserole. Put the fish filets or bits or pieces of chicken on top and in the middle of the veggies. Mix in a separate cup the coconut milk and season it with fish sauce and lemon/lime juice. Taste to adjust the saltiness and bitterness. Pour over the veggies and meat. Chop galangal or ginger into generous coin size bites, cut a few cuts into the chilis, chop lemon grass into 3cm bits and add everything into casserole, place them all around.

Bake in an oven in roughly 220 degrees until the meat is cooked and the veggies tender. Enjoy the authentic thai feeling!

This stuff I just made for us for dinner is thee best paleo side order ever! So if you’re having a feast or a special occasion or you want to show off some paleo luxury for your friends, take this on the menu. Can’tgo wrong. Unless your friends are vegetarian. Works also as a main course, especially if you add some fresh vegetables.

Chorizo Heaven

• skinny Chorizos (the Spanish sausage, bought from Roiniset, by skinny I mean their appearance)
• Savoy cabbage
• swede/rutabaga (lanttu!)
• onion

Chop onion, rutabaga and Savoy cabbage into an oven casserole. Chop chorizos (I used four) and mix them in. Bake in 225 until the veggies are cooked. I like to put a tin foil over the casserole at first and then take it off and let it still bake 5 to 10 more minutes for some crispiness. The result is perfectly chorizogrease-seasoned veggies that are tender, salt and spicy chorizo and rutabaga adding some sweetness. Sigh. As I said, can’t go wrong. I’m loving it.

Just to boost you in the middle of this devilishly cold REAL winter that we all SO LOVE, here’s just another example of a beautiful combination of beautiful ingredients. These go so well together I wouldn’t believe if I just didn’t finish my dinner… Boy I was in need of one! Already gave the eye for some bloody awful Budapest chocolates when picking up my new moisturizer: there it was, a cup full of them just to quickly grab one, and there it was, my horrible hunger and too low blood sugar, BUT!! Conqueered it, not surprisingly. “A superhuman“, you say. I know. I get it a lot. Guilty as charged. Muahahahaaa So not.

Inspirational Salami Salad

• veggies (broccoli, bellpepper, root celery, carrot, tomatoes, courgette, spinach…)
• avocado
• fennel seasoned wildboar salami (this is SUPERB! Bought from Roiniset at Hakaniemen halli. YOU have to try it.)
• fresh shrimp (from Rosendahl at Hakaniemen halli)
• optional: fresh coriander

You can make whatever salad base you prefer, the three key ingredients are avocado, salami and shrimp. If you like fresh coriander, it goes brilliantly with this combo. I also added some mungbean sprouts, turmeric, gojis, salt and pepper after taking the pic. Wanted to keep it prettier for you. <3